Margaret (Morrow) Byers (1832 - 1912)

Born Apr 1832 in Rathfriland, Co. Down, Ireland

Died 21 Feb 1912 at age 79 in Belfast, Ireland, United Kingdom

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Biography

Margaret Morrow was born in April 1832 in Windsor Hill, Rathfriland, County Down, the only daughter of Andrew Morrow (died 1840), a temperance activist. Her mother was Margaret Herron. The family engaged in farming and also operated a flax mill. ^[1]

After the death (c.1840) of her father, a presbyterian elder and temperance pioneer, she was reared by paternal uncles in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Margaret Morrow married in 1850 to Rev John Byers, a Presbyterian missionary. They stopped for a short time in the United States before continuing to China as missionaries under the auspices of the American Presbyterian Church.

John Byers fell ill and died on the return voyage to New York, leaving his widow with a new baby, John. ^[2]

Margaret was the first president of the Irish Women's Temperance Union. She was the author of many papers on different phases of the progress of girls' education in Ireland and on Irish industrial schools and temperance. She received the degree of LL. D. from the University of Dublin. Margaret died on 21 February 1912 and is buried in Belfast City Cemetery.

Sources

1. ↑ Byers, Margaret Contributed by Clarke, Frances https://www.dib.ie/biography/byers-margaret-a1317
2. ↑ https://www.acenturyofwomen.com/margaret-byers/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Byers